With the announcement that President Barack Obama wants to open up the Atlantic coastline to offshore oil drilling, the oil industry has insisted such a move will be good for the economy and for job production.

But an environmental group contends in a new report (pdf) that a better job producer near the Eastern seaboard would be wind turbines, which could provide more employment than new drilling platforms.

The ocean conservation organization Oceana says an offshore wind industry could, over the next 20 years, create nearly 91,000 more jobs than offshore drilling, 218,640 vs. 127,682. Turbines also could produce more energy than drilling (143 gigawatts of power), over a period of two decades, which would be enough electricity for 115 million homes.

The biggest winner in terms of new jobs would be North Carolina, which could pick up more than 48,000 from offshore wind (as opposed to 23,000 from drilling). South Carolina could add 33,600 jobs from turbines (instead of only 12,900 from oil). Florida could develop 28,300 more jobs instead of only 3,800 from oil.

Comments

Sapientia Dolorosa
4 years ago

Bill Heller is a stooge. There is no peer reviewed science in his links.

Bill Heller
4 years ago

Industrial wind turbines fail as a solution to global warming, meeting our energy needs and creating jobs. It's as simple as the wind often doesn't blow at high enough speeds to spin the blades, or create significant power from the spinning. Every MW of
wind energy must be matched with a MW of fossil fuel generation, called spinning reserve, to make up for the shortfall. Here are a few articles explaining this and more: 1) Why Not Wind: an open letter: The reasons industrial-scale wind is a destructive boondoggle
http://tinyurl.com/m2ylhrg 2) N.J. Offshore Wind Project Reveals True Cost to Taxpayer http://tinyurl.com/kksjpm4 3) Energy blow as wind power fuels pollution http://tinyurl.com/kb43eyf 4) The dirty secret of Britain's power madness: Polluting diesel generators
built in secret by foreign companies to kick in when there's no wind for turbines http://tinyurl.com/nfkflzx 5) Reality Check: Germany's Defective Green Energy Game Plan http://tinyurl.com/mwox2hj 6) Study: Wind Power Raises CO2 Emissions http://tinyurl.com/k3cp6lt
7) Subsidizing CO2 Emissions via Windpower: The Ultimate Irony http://tinyurl.com/5wwy7wq 8) Government Lab Finds Wind Energy Not Meeting Carbon Emission Goals http://tinyurl.com/7q5n9v9 9) Power struggle: Green energy versus a grid that's not ready http://tinyurl.com/m5okhaw
10) AWEA Confirms Electricity Prices Skyrocketing In Largest Wind Power States http://tinyurl.com/on7k5n6 Wind energy is a sham and only the wind industry, certain politicians, and their crony capitalist associates benefit. However, they are very good at sales
propaganda. Don't buy the hype.